My 2012 entry was via the lottery. If I go for the refund, I may never get the chance again to run NYC because of the new rules. Full entry fee seems an expensive guanrantee for a future NYC race.

The no refund policy is understandable if I cancel, but I didn't. To give me a full refund (minus $11) if I give up my guaranteed future entry & $0 if I want to run NYC, seems unfair to me. Why not at least give me a break in the cost?

The majority of people get into NYC through the lottery. I got in through qualifying, but they tighened up the standards a lot and there is no way I will ever qualify again, so I'll take the deferral for 2013. My marathon weekend in NYC last month was FUBAR and I will look forward to a re-do even though I'm from Canada and my registration is $350.

Peace Out wrote:The majority of people get into NYC through the lottery. I got in through qualifying, but they tighened up the standards a lot and there is no way I will ever qualify again, so I'll take the deferral for 2013. My marathon weekend in NYC last month was FUBAR and I will look forward to a re-do even though I'm from Canada and my registration is $350.

This is simply false as the majority of NYC entrants do NOT get in via the lottery. You now can go back to sleep in your parents' basement.

Peace Out wrote:The majority of people get into NYC through the lottery. I got in through qualifying, but they tighened up the standards a lot and there is no way I will ever qualify again, so I'll take the deferral for 2013. My marathon weekend in NYC last month was FUBAR and I will look forward to a re-do even though I'm from Canada and my registration is $350.

This is simply false as the majority of NYC entrants do NOT get in via the lottery. You now can go back to sleep in your parents' basement.

There are no facts to check because NYRR doesn't publicly disclose them (it doesn't want to discourage people from plunking down the entry fee for a lottery they don't have very good odds in). 9+1 types plus auto-qualifiers/guaranteed entry types plus charity types plus international types on package deals take up more than 50% of the race numbers. Also, who said I am a guy?

Sounds fair to me. Anyone can get a refund and you are back where you were (minus a processing fee).

Or they will let you, in effect, use the refund amount to buy a guaranteed entry later. If you can get a guaranteed entry anyway this is of no value to you so you just take the refund. If you couldn't get a guaranteed entry then you can decide yourself whether to spend your refund on the guarantee or take your chances with the lottery.

Basically, if you live in a country not called the USA, you have to go through a tour company that buys the bib numbers for more than $260 from NYRR and then makes you buy a whole package (flights, hotels, etc) to get the number. Those numbers are very profitable to NYRR.

Peace Out wrote:The majority of people get into NYC through the lottery. I got in through qualifying, but they tighened up the standards a lot and there is no way I will ever qualify again, so I'll take the deferral for 2013. My marathon weekend in NYC last month was FUBAR and I will look forward to a re-do even though I'm from Canada and my registration is $350.

This is simply false as the majority of NYC entrants do NOT get in via the lottery. You now can go back to sleep in your parents' basement.

I'm a 38 y.o. female and haven't lived in my parents basement since I was 17. I do stand corrected on the lottery entrants though; I always consider "guaranteed entry" to mean "qualified with fast time" but forgot about all the locals in NYC who have the 9+1 rule in their favour etc.